Emeric Pressburger is the gifted screenwriter who
adapts
the play
by Percy Robinson and Terence de Marney for this
critically acclaimed
film
noir British programmer that somehow fell through the
cracks and has
been
seldom seen. This new DVD is a digital transfer from
an archival 35mm
negative
with excellent picture quality.

London at a time just after the war is terrorized by
a
number of
strangulations of women, as a serial-killer is on the
loose. We learn
early
on that the killer is Victor Colebrooke (Eric
Portman), a well-educated
and debonair businessman of 35 who is a mama's boy
still living at
home.
The killer's father was the public hangman, who took
delight in his
job.
He's honored by appearing in Madame Trussaud's Chamber
of Horrors,
where
he's known as the "Happy Hangman." Victor is obsessed
that he inherited
his father's madness and urge to kill, though dad did
it legally. When
Victor's date at a Hampstead Heath amusement park
fails to show in time
because of an Underground delay, he goes into a slow
rage and while
waiting
around strangles to death his sixth victim. While
stuck in the train
Anne
Fielding (Dulcie Gray) meets off-duty bus conductor
Jack Williams
(Derek
Farr), who had a crush on her when she used to ride
his route but never
chatted with her before. Jack walks with Anne to the
park, and when
Victor
is not there they remain together and go on a
merry-go-round ride. When
Jack goes for ice cream, Anne spots Victor and rushes
over to see him.
Victor throws a hissy fit and Anne leaves with him
without telling
Jack.
All Jack knows about her is that she works as a
salesgirl in a music
store.

Scotland Yard, under Chief Investigator Conway
(Roland
Culver), learns
of the latest victim found at night in Hampstead
Heath. The police try
to track down everyone who was at the Heath during the
time of the
murder
for a possible eyewitness report, and this results in
bringing in Jack
for questioning because he was reported by the train
crew as leaving
with
a girl but returning alone. Inspector Conway also goes
to Victor's
house
for questioning because a tramp found his handkerchief
in the vicinity
of the crime scene.

The killer starts sending taunting postcards and
claims he
will strike
again tonight. The police with no solid clues get a
lucky break and
find
out who is the killer. But they don't have enough
proof to arrest
Victor,
so they put a tail on him. The detective (Shine) loses
him in the Hyde
Park crowd, where Victor is meeting Anne. She's the
only girl who can
save
him, but has rejected his marriage proposal and now
faces certain death
unless someone can come to the rescue.

Wanted for Murder is an appealing crime thriller
that has
no pretenses,
the dialogue is crisp, the pacing just right and the
story taut. My
favorite
line is when Detective Sullivan (Stanley Holloway),
the inspector's
assistant,
says "My wife's psychic." The inspector replies "I'm
sure there's
something
the matter with her."